Past playersJohn Evans
Years: 1953-1957
Appearances: 107
Goals: 53
John Evans signed for Liverpool from Charlton Athletic, for whom he had played 90 league matches in three-and-a-half seasons, scoring 38 times in the First Division.
The Reds were sliding towards relegation after winning only five of their first 24 matches and at least Evans' introduction on Boxing Day 1953 saw a slight improvement, with a draw taken from West Bromwich Albion's visit just 24 hours after the Midlanders had triumphed over Liverpool 5-2 at the Hawthorns.
That started a run of 16 successive appearances, in which Evans scored three times, but the introduction of a number of new players in the second half of the season could not prevent the drop.
Evans only missed four league games in 1954-55 as Liverpool got used to life in the Second Division and scored 29 times, including all five as Bristol Rovers were defeated 5-3 and all four when Bury were beaten at Gigg Lane. He was the first Reds player to score five goals in one game for 52 years.
Evans wasn't quite as prolific the next year but still managed 13 goals from 31 league appearances, maintaining his record of scoring one goal every two games in his LFC career.
But only a few weeks into the 1956-57 season he lost his place to a young Jimmy Melia and was eventually transferred to Third Division South's Colchester United in December 1957, where he added another 22 league goals to an already impressive tally.
